2013 Ford Focus Electric Debuts at CES

Just days before the Detroit Auto Show opens, Ford unveils its Leaf fighter, the EV Focus, at the CES show.

Electric vehicles are the hottest and smallest niche market at the moment, and the 2013 Ford Focus Electric intends to join the fray. Its features begin with an electric motor and extend all the way to your smartphone.

Electrification is part of a larger strategy for Ford, where engines are downsized with their turbocharged Ecoboost engines, mechanical systems are replaced with efficient electric ones, and vehicles are fitted with stop/start, hybrid, plug-in and battery electric systems. Ford is realistic with their goals for electrified vehicles, seeing the full array making up at most 25 percent of their entire volume by 2020. But every vision has to start somewhere.

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With the Focus Electric, Ford is aiming at a global market for its first in-house–engineered EV, so it makes sense to base it on the Ford Focus C chassis. Motivation begins with a permanent-magnet electric traction motor delivering 123 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque and a single-speed transmission. The motor draws electricity from two liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery packs mounted under and behind the rear seats with a total of 24 kilowatt-hours of power. The combination tops out just above freeway speeds at 84 mph and should be peppy off the line owing to the torquey nature of electric motors.

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It will have to overcome some significant weight gains though; due to those big batteries, the curb weight is up to a hefty 3691 pounds, around 760 pounds more than the standard five-door. Accordingly, spring and shock rates have been changed as well. Other changes to the Focus Electric aim at improving overall efficiency, including a new front end to improve aerodynamics, low-rolling resistance tires, LED tail lamps and lightweight wheels.

The official range has yet to be announced, but preliminary figures indicate frugal drivers should see around 100 miles before the car has to hit the charger. Speaking of charging, that's where things start to get interesting with the Focus Electric. Ford has partnered with Best Buy, whose Geek Squad will provide in-home installation of an optional Leviton-sourced 240-volt–outlet charger, which will be able to charge the batteries in just 3 hours, currently best in a rather nebulous and small class. Without that high-voltage charger, it's a painful 16 to 20 hours for a full charge. This makes the charge-station finder delivered to the navigation system through MapQuest a very important feature.

Ford has spent a lot of time developing and refining the charging process and vehicle management to make the Focus Electric experience not just convenient, but cost effective. As with other plug-ins and EVs, the basic functionality of the charging system aims to optimize charge times to take advantage of low utility rates during off-peak hours. Ford's system is integrated into the MyFord Touch center stack and can be accessed remotely from the Web or via a free iPhone and Android app called MyFord Mobile. The apps allow the driver to tell the car when it will be needed for the next trip and how far the next destination is, and remotely control startup features such as heating the cabin on plug-in power. These details are combined by the software and result in smartly managed charging to save the most money with minimal inconvenience to the driver.

The Focus Electric also works to address one of the biggest problems with EVs: range anxiety, the concern that the car won't be able to make it to a destination. Each key stores the driver's unique style of driving—what Ford terms as Zippy to Zen. The zippier the driver, the lower the total range will be. The car takes this into account when predicting how far it will go with its current state of charge. If you're on the edge of reaching a destination or charge station, the SmartGauge LCD screens flanking the speedometer will encourage smoother driving, maximized regenerative braking and lower speeds. Amusingly, the green leaves from the Fusion Hybrid's SmartGauge have been replaced with blue butterflies—an homage to the butterfly effect the driver might cause by piloting an electric vehicle.

The Focus Electric is still pretty far from production, with an intended sale date sometime in 2012, but it will be the flagship in Ford's push for vehicle electrification. What we see in this effort is a holistic approach to an electric car that will pay dividends as the number of charging stations increases and battery technology improves. For now, the electric car is still limited to a position as secondary, around-town city car, but as charging times continue to diminish, that problem will begin to disappear.